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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Reasons why it is NOT wise to have a joint account with your fiance(e) before marriage

I know that this might raise some issues but I would like to say upfront that this is not doctrinal or straight out of the Bible. This is based on wisdom and what I have seen in many counselling sessions.

For the sake of this discussion, a joint account is an account where both parties agree to put some money into for whatever reason. This also assumes that any party has the withdrawal signatory rights without due recourse to the other party. I also am not saying that I support or do not support having a joint account. That is a matter for another time.

I have seen in many cases that some individuals "in love" decide to open a joint account because they trust the other person in the relationship. I remember one case where a lady friend in Nigeria got involved with a guy living abroad. She left the country to be closer to the guy and soon enough, they decided to open a joint account in preparation for their wedding and future life together. To cut the long story short, one day the guy emptied the joint account and came back to Nigeria to get married to another lady in Nigeria. Now this lady friend is well off and not ugly.

Here are my reasons:

Before marriage, there is no covenant between the two parties "in-love". So anything can happen. if one party empties the account, there is literally nothing legal that you can do because it would just be seen as a business transaction. For who knows a person's thoughts except their own spirit within them? 1 Corinthians 2:11a.

You may not know about your fiance(e) financial history before marriage as (s)he may think it is not necessary to share this with you. Now if one party is in debt without the party's knowledge, the one in debt may feel (s)he has a right to help himself or herself to the money in the joint account since "it is in the best interest of the union"

Until you get married, any party can have a change of heart about the relationship. What if this happens, what happens to the joint account? If the break-up is a bitter one, one party might decide to clear the account to spite the other.

Money matters require wisdom and should be treated with care. I do not think it is wise and I don't fully support it. This is my opinion.